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Monday, March 22, 2010

Flower Pot Bread - Blue Monday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Saturday was a beautiful day in the Willamette Valley. We spent the morning at the Junction City Daffodil Festival, but the day was so lovely, that Bob and I couldn't bring ourselves to return home and attend to the chores we should be doing. We headed, instead, to some local nurseries to check out new stock. I also needed clay pots to use as molds for ornamental breads that would be used as centerpieces for a luncheon. I've made flower pot breads before and they are really not hard to do. While a lovely sweet bread or brioche could be used to fill the pots, I planned to use a reasonably plain white bread dough. The loaves were to be used for decoration only and it didn't make much sense to spend a lot of time or money on something that wouldn't be eaten. I hasten to add that the bread is edible, but in its unwrapped state it will stale quickly. The bread I used is simple to make and, as luck would have it, I could pass the finished loaves on to others for final decorating. Actually, the only difficult part of my chore was seasoning the pots to make them fit for baking. It's tedious work but not hard. I set aside 3 hours to season twelve pots and get the bread ready for its first, and only, rise. I'm including instructions for seasoning the flower pots, along with the recipe for the very easy bread I used to make them. Here's how it's done.

Directions for seasoning Terra Cotta Flower Pots:1) Take two (6-inch) new terra cotta flower pots. Wash thoroughly, drain dry and grease them inside and outside, with shortening, butter or oil. Make sure to coat the rims as well2) Heat pots in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F. for 25-30 minutes. Remove. Let cool. Repeat process two or three more times to create a non-stick surface on flower pots. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Directions: 1) Grease inside and rim of 2 (6-inch) flower pots with shortening, oil or butter. Set aside.2) Combine water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle dry yeast over water. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.3) Combine flour, salt and reserved 2 teaspoons sugar in a large bowl. Add any extras you want to use. Add yeast mixture and oil. Mix to form a smooth dough. Turn onto floured board and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 10 minutes.4) Cut dough into 6 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Place 3 balls in the bottom of each flower pot. Place on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.5) Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush top of loaves with egg wash. sprinkle with seeds if desired. Bake loaves in middle of oven for 30 minutes, or until bread is a rich golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove bread from oven. Cool on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pots and continue cooling on wire racks until bread is at room temperature. Bread can be served in flower pots or decoratively wrapped. Yield: 2 loaves.

I have actually baked bread in flower pots AND eaten it, I don't have the recipe on file and might try yours. Do you ever bake bread in flower pots with intent to eat? Is this recipe good for that? ( beautiful bread)

Your talking about the daffodil festival took me back to my WA days with the many tulip and daffodil parades and festivals there. That and berries are what I miss most about the northwest. Love the bread idea. It would look great on a festive spring table.

That is the most perfect bread ever...and in a pot! I remember those clay cloches they had in France... perfect bread too. I can see these breads hiding in spring flowers on a Spring table. Great recipe and execution!!!

Wow, this is perhaps the prettiest thing I've seen in a long time. The flower pot breads are just darling and such a labor of love too. Thanks so much for sharing this unique idea ... its a first for me! :)

what agreat post... not so much for the bread (which sounds like a great idea for a centerpiece to me!), but for the glazing of the "ordinary" terra cotta flower pots... Last time my wife made this, she bought VERY expensive pots.

PS - I am a follower and have never received an update or a recipe from you as indicated on your left column. Can you upload a plugin so that I can sign up and receive your new posts into my e-mail?Thanks,Valerie

Thanks for stopping by my site, Mary - and now I'm so excited to come and visit yours! I have never seen flower pot bread before but it is SO adorable! What a fantastic idea! I imagine these are a huge hit when you use them as centerpieces.

Now that you've got all of those seasoned pots, take a look at the desserts posted by Pioneer Woman - http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/03/a-blast-from-the-past/We used to call it Dirt Cake. Bet your grandkids would love them!Martha in KS

We had bread baked this way at a restaurant in Cambria, CA called the Sows Ear. They did a marbled white/whole wheat bread. I was of course very distracted by the it. I had to stare at it, pick it up, look in the pot as I ate the bread. It's a very clever idea, really cute!

What a WOW idea - bread baked in a terra cotta flower pot - edible and a centerpiece. Any I thought my use of herbs as a centerpiece was inspired was green, clever and fun. Your flower pot bread is so inspiring!

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